Jurisdiction: UK

Commencement: 1st January 2022

Amends:

Mini Summary

The Food Information Regulations 2014 replace the Food Labelling Regulations 1996. The majority of the requirements of the Regulations must be complied with by 13th December 2014 and they apply to food businesses at all stages of the food chain.

The Regulations transpose the EU Food Information Regulation 1169/2011 (FIR) into English law and are necessary to provide powers to enforce the provisions set out in EU FIR, as well as certain provisions in other EU Regulations and Directive, and to remove any overlapping UK food labelling legislation thus meeting the UK’s legal obligations.

Many of the basic requirements for food labelling from the 1996 Regulations remain the same, as well as the fundamental principle of providing safe food which is honestly described in English on prepackaged food labelling. Therefore, on prepacked food labelling the following information must be present:

Non-prepacked food
Article 44 of the EU Regulation states national measures for non-prepacked food. The main changes affecting food sold loose or sold directly to the consumer by the person packing the food (known as prepacked for direct sale) are:

The 14 substances or products causing allergies or intolerances are: fish, crustaceans, molluscs, nuts, peanuts, milk, eggs, soybeans, celery (including celeriac) , mustard, sesame seeds, lupin, sulphur dioxide and sulphites (at concentrations more than 10mg/kg) and finally cereals containing gluten (wheat, rye, barley, oats, spelt, kamut)

Prepacked foods
The main changes are outlined below.

Improvement notices may be issued by officers where there has been a failure to comply with any of the provisions listed in the Regulations. The improvement notice will specify what measures are needed to be compliant and date by which these must be put in place. Any person who fails to comply with an improvement notice commits an offence. A person found guilty of an offence under these Regulations is liable to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale (currently £5,000). Appeals can be made to the First-tier Tribunal.

The Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (Defra) has produced this guidance document of how to comply with the Regulations.

Amendment

Following the United Kingdom’s (UK) departure from the EU Single Market and Custom Union, the Trade and Co-operation Agreement (TCA) now sets out the basis for wine trade between Great Britain (GB) and the European Union (EU). These changes facilitate meeting the UK’s legal obligation in regard to wine trade, specifically adjusting rules concerning lot making and import and export certification arrangements for wine products. They also put transitional marketing arrangements in place.

There are no environmental or occupational health and safety duties for organisations.

Link to full government text

 
  

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